In Darkened Corners
by Lostinashadow
Summary: With an imagination to take him places, Arnold falls in love with Helga. But could she ever, would she ever, has she ever loved him? What can the imagination do to you? Can it make you see thing? Hear things? Or even feel things that aren't there?
1. In Darkened Corners

In Darkened Corners  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! but I am the proud owner of a purple blanket, which is warming me as I write. I also own a reef that should have been taken down a few days ago.  
  
A/N: Mrs. Rosette speaks French. The first part means, if I am not mistaken, "Good day class! We will be working on French nouns today. I know we did this yesterday but some people, who I am not mentioning the names of, Gerald, did not pass this simple test!" And the second one, "But right now I'll pass back your test. Good job, Arnold! You, too, Helga!"  
  
When you see something that's not really there, what made you think it was there in the first place? Did you see it for a reason? What about when you hear something that you didn't really hear? Was it really there? Or was it just your imagination? Imagination. . . what does that really mean?  
  
"La bonne classe de jour! Nous allons apprendre à dire les substantifs français. Je sais que nous sommes allés par-dessus ceci hier mais quelques gens, que je ne mentionne pas les noms de Gerald, n'ont pas passé le test simple!" Mrs. Rosetta spoke above the rumbling classroom.  
  
"Mrs. Rosetta! How bad did I do?" Gerald asked, completely embarrassed by her remark. Mrs. Rosetta ignored him and continued talking to the class.  
  
"Mais, premier, je passerai de retour votre test. Le bon travail, Arnold! Vous, aussi, Helga!" She said, passing back the papers from the test that her French II had taken. Many students groaned when they saw their grade. Though, some were hopping in their seats. Arnold and Helga were two of the very few that did great.  
  
"What did you get?" Arnold asked happily.  
  
"I got a B+!" Helga said, jumping out of her seat. Usually neither of them would be that ecstatic but they had studied for over a month and were glad that it was off of their shoulders, now. Helga stared at her paper and noticed the ones that she had gotten wrong. "I knew I spelt that word wrong! How can someone misspell daggonit?"  
  
"Easy! They can spell it D-O-G-O-N-I-T. That'd be an easy way to misspell it." Arnold tried to brighten the mood. Helga smiled slightly and opened a green folder. "That folder reminds me of something. I'm not sure, but I think snot."  
  
"Cool it, Football Head! I might just have to pound your face in!" Helga mocked.  
  
"And that reminds me of Herald! Man, it's been a long time since we've talked to him!" Arnold laughed at his remark and stuffed his paper into his own folder.  
  
"Do I look like a man to you?" Helga asked seriously. The truth was she didn't at all. She lost her unibrow and her manly features softened up. She was one of the most beautiful girls in sophomore year. Arnold thought she was the most beautiful girl in the school, really.  
  
"Who could think that?" He asked blushing really heavily. Helga smiled thinking he was only trying to make her feel better. It worked.  
  
"I ever so slightly could." They heard a voice call from behind them. They turned to face Lila. Helga glared at her. "See? There it is. That's the face that makes Helga G. Pataki look like a man!"  
  
"At least I don't look or act like a slut, as you do. May I show my evidence? You've slept with just about every guy on the basketball team, except Arnold." Helga protested. Lila licked her lips when she mentioned Arnold's name. Lila laughed and turned to face her friends, who were listening in very closely. "How many ways can you say bitch?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I haven't learned everything language, just yet." Arnold remarked, throwing an icy look at Lila. Helga was scared for a second. The look in his eyes was pure hatred. She couldn't believe how mad he was.  
  
"Arnold, take it easy. She's a whore and she doesn't even deserve your second glance. Even if you look like you want to bite her head off." Helga laughed. Arnold even smiled a little. He liked it when Helga was happy. She was rarely in a good mood. She was balancing so much on her shoulder. She worked a job that took up most of her weekends, when she should have been out with her friends. She was on the girl's varsity basketball team and still managed to keep her grades up.  
  
"I know, I know. She just talks to you wrong. You look nothing like a man. You're so womanly that every guy who sees you just about faints because of how much you glow. But, of course, I'm a man, I've never fainted!" Arnold tried to cover himself.  
  
"It's okay, Football Head. I know you didn't faint. You just gave up your graham crackers." Helga remembered the first day they met. She got all wet and Arnold helped her out. He told her that he liked her bow. She fell in love with him. She lost her graham crackers and he shared. She thought he was the best person ever. To be frank, he was the first person to actually be nice to her.  
Arnold blushed as he was reminded of the pretty little girl with the pink bow. She had taken out her bow a few years back. She thought it made her look childish and Lilaish. Lila had taken up Helga's old style. She wore a pink dress with a pink bow. She was going to dye her hair blonde but than decided against it.  
  
"I really wish that you wouldn't call me that. I call you by your name." Arnold scolded at Helga. She was shocked.  
  
"Jeez! Take it easy! I didn't know it hurt your little feelings. I'm sorry. I'll call you by your little name." Helga said in a baby voice. Arnold rolled his eyes up at the ceiling. He thought, 'Boy, what I go through to keep you happy.'  
  
"Thank you. Now, what are we doing today?" He asked, eyeing Helga. She smiled widely.  
  
"I was thinking somewhere a long the lines of a movie!"  
  
"A movie at the movies? Or at one of our houses?"  
  
"Either one. Doesn't matter to me. What do you think?" She looked at Arnold. He started to feel giddy. Butterflies were afloat in his stomach. He gripped it hard to make it stop. "What's the matter?"  
  
"Nothing, nothing. I'm fine. One of our houses sounds good to me." He answered letting go of his stomach. "Which one?"  
  
"Yours! Not mine. There is no way! Don't even know why I mentioned it. We'd be watching football the entire time."  
  
"Okay, we can watch a movie at my house. What do you want to see?" He asked but the teacher noticed their conversation that had carried on while she was teaching.  
  
"Arnold, Helga!" She yelled. They turned to face the teacher and she went back to teaching. Arnold wiped his head as if he had sweat on it.  
  
"How about 'Bruce Almighty'?"  
  
"Okay, we'll talk about this at lunch. I also need to tell you something when we get in there."  
  
"Sure, Foot-Arnold. I'm sorry. I forgot." She said covering her mouth.  
'Oh, Helga. How I long to be with you. How I long to be by your side holding your hand. Wait-what am I think? I can't be thinking this again. I got over her long ago. Why should these feelings be coming back?' Arnold thought.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
I'm so sorry! I just had to add something on here. I was not aware that I had ended it so stupidly! I meant to end it with a big twist! Well, there it is! Again, I'm sorry! 


	2. In Darkened Corners: Eternal Flash Backs

In Darkened Corners  
  
Disclaimer: I DO (not) own Hey Arnold! I still own the world but I'll have to work a little harder to own this. I STILL OWN THIS STORY AND MY IMAGINATION!  
  
A/N: Hey! I want to thank everyone who has reviewed to my first chapter. I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to get this chapter up. I was spending my time working on 'Silent Night' and school just started up, again.  
  
IMPORTANT: This whole chapter, except the ending, is a flash back! I'm going to show everyone how Arnold and Helga got to be so close!  
  
Eternal Flash Back  
  
"Move it, hair boy!" Helga shoved Arnold out of the way. She had woken up way to early and on the wrong side of her twin-sized bed. Arnold's face lit up when she pushed him. He couldn't help but smile when she laid one finger on him. "You, too, Geraldo!"  
Gerald got an uninviting look on his face when she called him by his nickname. She had a nickname for practically everyone she knew. Arnold hated it because it made him feel down. At times, he despised Helga greatly. But other times he just wanted to hold her in his arms.  
  
"Whatever you say, Helga." He muttered, staring at her back. He thought it was fascinating how she always wore that pink bow. That's the first thing he ever noticed about her. He could remember it like it was yesterday. . .  
  
"Hi. Want to share my umbrella? I like your bow." He could hear his own little three-year-old voice saying those words over and over again in his head. He knew right then, he was in love. But could you really fall in love at such a young age? Was it just an obsession?  
  
"When is she going to stop calling us these stupid names?" Gerald whispered to Arnold. He didn't hear a word he said. He was, once again, in a trance.  
  
"What'd you say?" Arnold asked, a sleepy look upon his face. Gerald rolled his eyes at Arnold and shook his head.  
  
"My friend, you have got it bad!"  
  
"What do you mean?" Arnold defended himself.  
  
"I mean it's obvious! Everyone in their right mind would know that you have a crush on Helga!" Gerald said matter-of-factly.  
  
"I do not!" Arnold blushed. He knew that Gerald knew. How could he not? Arnold practically died when Helga touched him. And when Arnold accidentally knocked Helga out with a fly ball, giving her amnesia. He jumped at the chance to be with Helga.  
Every year he would wish that they would be in the same class. Sure enough, it happened. Arnold thought it was because they were meant to be together. Helga thought it was just to make her mad.  
  
"Come on! Admit it Arnold! You're in love with Helga G. Pataki!" Gerald replied. Arnold hated the way that Gerald, when talking of Helga, always slid the 'G.' in there. The truth was, neither of them knew her actual middle name.  
One 'special' day that stood out in Arnold's mind, was the day that they became 'friends'. It was in the seventh grade; Mr. Simmons was still their teacher. They were getting ready the pull names from a hat for another 'special project'. The hat was coming around to Arnold. When it was finally sat on his desk, he out his hand into the hat and closed his eyes. 'Please, let me pull out Helga's name!' he thought. He decided upon a rather small slip of paper and pulled it out. His eyes were still close so he couldn't see what the paper read.  
  
"Oh, great! Look's like were stuck together again, Football Head." He heard the voice of Helga. He bit his bottom lip to stop the praises that he wanted to shout from coming out. He opened his eyes and looked down at the paper. He turned after he read the name and, sure enough, Helga was behind him with her arms crossed.  
  
"Yeah, I guess we are." He secretly smiled. Helga sat down in the seat vacant seat adjacent to his. "So, what do you want to do our project on?"  
  
"I don't know. I was going to ask you the same thing." She replied.  
  
"Stinky and Sid are doing theirs on how many Mr. Nutty bars they can eat in one minute. Want to do something like that?" He asked, regretting it the second he said it.  
  
"Sure! We can see if a football could fit into your mouth." She laughed at her own joke. She stopped when she saw the look on Arnold's face.  
  
"Helga, for once could you please just be nice to me? I'm trying my best here, not to explode with every comment you make!" He shouted, though he couldn't be heard over the chatter of other students. Helga looked at her hands.  
  
"Sorry." She muttered. Arnold stared at her with blinking eyes. Did she just say 'sorry' to him? He never thought she'd apologize for anything. He didn't expect her to say anything. He actually was just waiting for her to throw another rude comment towards him.  
  
"What'd you say?" He asked, shuffling in his seat.  
  
"I said sorry! Now, could we please get on with our lives?"  
  
"Yeah. And Helga?"  
  
"What?" She asked looking Arnold in the eyes.  
  
"Thanks. I'm sorry I yelled. I've just got a lot on my shoulders right now. I'm sure that you do, too. We could at least try to get along for the remainder of the project." Helga smiled at Arnold. His insides started to wiggle.  
  
"So, what are we going to do this thing on, anyhow?" She brought the conversation back after a few silent minutes. Well, you couldn't call it silent. So we'll call it semi-silent.  
  
"We could write stories about our lives? They would only have to be a few pages long and we would only have to spend a weekend to get them done."  
  
"Yeah. The life of a bully and the life of an optimist!" She giggled. Once again, their pre-kindergarten flash back crossed his mind. He put on a half smile and entered a world of dreams. 


End file.
